Many people cannot imagine a hearty breakfast, lunch or dinner without bread. He's so versatile! You can spread something on it, be it butter or honey, and you get a delicious breakfast. It is no less tasty to eat it with real Ukrainian borscht. In addition to good taste, bread has an equally interesting history of origin.
By eating bread, a person receives all the energy he needs, which is contained in cereals. Initially, people did not have the same concept of bread as they do today. And he looked completely different.
For example, the Jews baked bread in thin plates, which then broke with their hands. It was from them that the expression "break bread", meaning "to eat something", came from.
In ancient times, people ground grains into flour using two stones, so that later, adding water and making cakes, bake them on the hearth. Usually, such a hearth was built in holes dug in the ground. The walls of these pits were laid out with clay. Such bread was quite heavy and rough, because it did not contain any baking powder that would make it soft and tender.
The first bread in Egypt
The history of the origin of bread in Egypt goes back thousands of years, but the exact number is difficult to establish. It was the Egyptians who were the first to understand that sour dough contains yeast. They learned how to make yeast and bake pastry. And they also perfectly mastered the art of loosening the dough with the help of fermentation. Bread in Ancient Egypt had a very different shape: oblong, round, pyramidal, as well as in the form of sphinxes, fish and braids. Also in Egypt, it was customary to bake sweet bread. They added honey, milk, fat. Such bread was more valuable than ordinary bread.
Bread in Greece and Rome
Greece and Rome adopted from the Egyptians the skill of making loosened bread using fermented dough. In these states, such bread was available only to wealthy families. For slaves, only black bread was available - dense and coarse.
In ancient Greece, certain superstitions were also associated with bread. One of them said that a person who ate food without bread was guilty of a grave sin. And for this sin he will certainly be punished by the gods. The recipes for making bread were not told to anyone. This was a great secret. They were passed down only from generation to generation by master bakers.
Earlier in ancient Greece, bread was considered an independent dish and was consumed in the same way as any other separate dish.
Bread in Italy
Italians learned how to bake bread from the Greeks. It was they who brought the technology of making bread to Italy in the eighth century BC. Bread is prepared with great care. Recipes are passed down from generation to generation. Bread does not change over time, the Italians prefer and highly appreciate the traditional way of cooking.
The first bread in Switzerland
Bakery in Switzerland began to develop several thousand years ago. The ancient inhabitants baked flat bread on hot stones and sprinkled it with ashes. Each family baked bread independently according to their needs. It was only when the cities began to develop that bakery shops began to open. The poor at that time had access to only black bread. When crop failures occurred in the country and there was not enough stocks of rye and wheat, crushed chestnuts, acorns and plant roots were mixed into the flour.
Undoubtedly, every nation values the history of the emergence of bread in its state. And it would be interesting to taste and compare breads in different parts of the world.
